Last night I went to my 16th Dave show (I think, I've sortof lost count by now)... and it was one of the best... EVER. I know I say that every time, but this time it literally was. Last year at Outside Lands it was awesome to see them of course, but the new members (Rawshawn, Jeff, and to some extent, Tim) were amazing in their own right but it felt more like a bunch of really talented musicians rockin' it on stage instead of an absurdly tight ensemble.

This show was MUCH different and AMAZING. First off, the band dynamic was blazingly awesome. The music was really tight and really fantastic. They were really pushing the boundaries, playing songs in what seemed to be very unusual time signatures and jazzing it up somethin' fierce. The solos were amazing as usual but WAY more integrated and connected with each other and the band as a whole. It felt like one big, group effort, and they were playing with some wild crazy abandon. In fact I thought the show was so frickin' good that I was really wondering if they were recording this show for a live album. It was NUTS.

The other part that rocked was that Josh and Jaclyn from Waterloo were visiting and it was awesome to run into them there and hang out and enjoy the show all together. Also, they played pretty much my ideal playlist - hitting Stay or Leave, Pantala Naga Pampa, Digging a Ditch, 41, Crush, Seek Up, Two Step and Sister, pretty much the list of my favourite Dave songs. I told Josh and Jaclyn that my head could possibly explode from the amount of awesome if they played "Baby Blue" so thankfully they didn't cause that would have been a mess. A "hot mess"?!! Anyway holy craaaaaaaap it was great. Like BEYOND GREAT. I love this band, I loved the venue, the weather was perfect, and I got to hang out with some great friends and enjoy the show together. What more could you ask for?!!

I've seen a ton of Dave shows by now, but man was he ever into this one. The rest of the band too was just at the top of their game, in top form. The drum solos were insane, the bass solos were out of control, the sax player was mental and absurdly good, the trumpet player couldn't have been better... man. Tim Reynolds on electric was disgustingly good too. That man can play some MEAN guitar. Jeez. The video caught him playing some crazy slap-guitar at some point, and his slide guitar was perfect as usual. WHAT A SHOW!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Here's the setlist. Let your jealousy begin now. I really hope this somehow makes it to a live recording, this show was ridiculous.

Thursday, August 26, 2010

Day 2 in Ottawa was great. I headed to the Parliament buildings and went on a tour inside, seeing both the House of Commons and the Senate which was super awesome. The architecture was really impressive. When the tour finished I headed outside just in time to see the changing of the guard. Then a wander through ByWard Market for a beaver tail (don't worry my American friends, it's not an *actual* beaver tail) :) and then to the Royal Canadian Mint.

In the afternoon I went to the National Gallery of Canada, they had an awesome pop art exhibit which had a few Andy Warhol paintings but was mostly about all the pop art that was influenced by Andy Warhol. There was some cool stuff by Keith Haring too.

In the evening we went to see Mosaika, a light and sound show projected onto the Parliament Buildings themselves. It was soooooo cool.

Norm along the Rideau Canal

Terry Fox statue and the Parliament buildings

Parliament

Entrance

Cool roof

Wall sculptures describing Canada's history

The "Prime Minister's Stairs" right outside of the House of Commons.

The House of Commons!! Whoooaa!!!!!! Pretty crazy to be there.

Beautiful stained glass windows

Weird roof that rocked

More cool arches

Another interesting tiled situation

Royal paintings

Coat of arms of provinces

The Senate

Cool archways

Changing of the guard 1

Changing of the guard 2

Changing of the guard 3

Haha, "tail + drink". I didn't know you could get all these crazy flavours. I went with the standard cinammon + sugar, but with added lemon juice. It was FREAKIN' AMAZING.

This was so good

Inside the Notre-Dame Cathedral Basilica

Stained glass and silhouette

Royal Canadian Mint

I got to hold a gold bar worth $500,000! It was really heavy and there was a guy right near me guarding it. It was so heavy I pulled it up very quickly and the chain made a loud noise! I am laughing because I made a joke about trying to run off with it right in front of the guard. :)

I was in Ottawa last month... for the FIRST TIME EVER. It was getting to be a bit embarrassing calling myself a true Canuck here in the USA and never having been to "Our Nation's Capital", so it was about time! It was a really awesome city and my sister and I ventured out around the city a whole bunch. It was 42+ degrees C with super high humidity, and every day like clockwork it would rain at about 4pm just as I was walking back to my sister's place. :) Part of the fun :)

Lamps along the Rideau Canal

Building season downtown

Windy stairs

Mmm... PB&J

Cool tunnel under the main road near Parliament

Locks

Fairmont Château Laurier hotel

Chains for the locks

Steps for boats

Another photo of the locks

Fairmont Château Laurier hotel

One of the Parliament buildings

The bakery where Obama visited and bought Canada cookies!! They have renamed them "Obama Cookies" and Obama's visit has made this place very popular.